IDF Home Front Command: 20 Years of Saving Lives Abroad

It’s been 20 years since the establishment of the IDF’s Home Front Command – 20 years of nonstop activity around the world, saving thousands abroad from natural disasters and genocide.

Over the years, the IDF sent 15 aid delegations to over 14 countries struck by natural disasters, where IDF doctors set up field hospitals and immediately began their rescue efforts. Overall, medical care was given to more than 2,300 people in afflicted areas, and 220 were saved from certain death.

Most of the delegations were staffed with reserve soldiers from the Home Front command Search and Rescue unit and IDF physicians, who established field hospitals upon arrival. All Israeli delegations partnered with local and foreign aid teams in their effort to save lives.

In 2010, an IDF delegation was sent to Japan in order to aid local Japanese forces in dealing with the aftermath of the tsunami. The delegation consisted of 60 soldiers and commanders from the Medical Corps, Home Front Command, Logistics Branch and experts on radiation. Among the staff was Lt. Col. Orly Weinstein, an ophthalmologist who treated Sanae, an 11-month-old baby who was left homeless after the tsunami disaster.

Overall, the delegation treated 220 Japanese patients, saving many of them from certain death.